|
Trending Topics
|
Iran Won in Lebanon
(Wall Street Journal) Danielle Pletka - The U.S. has given more than $1 billion over the last decade to strengthen the Lebanese Armed Forces, but despite America's help, Iran has won. On a recent visit, I found a palpable change in tone: Lebanese officials once privately noted their hostility to Hizbullah and Iranian interference. No longer. Now Hizbullah is part of the "fabric of Lebanese life," as one senior military official put it. Thousands of Lebanese have either volunteered or been forced to fight in Syria for Bashar al Assad. Even the Lebanese Armed Forces is now cozy with Hizbullah. Not only has the army failed to limit Hizbullah's reach within Lebanon, but reports suggest it may also have shared weaponry. A recent Hizbullah military parade in Syria showed U.S.-sourced M113 armored personnel carriers of the kind supplied by Washington to Beirut. The writer is a senior vice president at the American Enterprise Institute.